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→Highlights of 2020
==Highlights of 2020==
In the 2020 calendar year, Beta Kappa stuck together and embraced the difficult and unpredictable times. This year we got to experience the Minnie Stewart Van just weeks before our chapter house and University closed. We also were able to volunteer at the annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival with high school students who came to perform. After spring break, the chapter house closed due to COVID-19 and we moved all chapter council meetings as well as chapter meetings to Zoom. We were able to do virtual sisterhoods that had great turnouts! During the midst of all of the first semester chaos, Beta Kappa received the Richard D. Gibb Chapter Excellence Award.
As we got ready for second semester, we hoped that we would be able to participate in in-person recruitment; however the global pandemic pushed us to do everything virtually. We had a virtual work week, doing everything in Zoom and practicing to make sure we were prepared for any Zoom malfunctions. We then did a 4 day long virtual recruitment and were able to recruit 24 amazing women. Shortly after we did a hybrid version of Formal Pledging to accommodate for the ladies who were quarantining due to positive COVID test results. We were able to successfully pull off an all virtual Inspiration Week and an all-in-one virtual Initiation. We concluded our semester still using the Zoom platform in hopes of doing our part to limit the spread of the virus.
Beta Kappa chose to support four philanthropies this year: Reading is Fundamental, the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation, Girls Academy and a local non-profit. We chose Reading is Fundamental because Kappa women are passionate about children's literacy and making a difference in the lives of youth. We recently were able to donate children's books to a non-profit schooling organization out of Nampa, Idaho and got to see first hand how much of a difference that made. We also chose the Kappa Foundation because we know that the money we donate will be distributed to Kappa women. This may be in the form of a scholarship or in the form of a disaster fund. As a chapter, we were fortunate enough to be able to participate in Girls Academy! We are so excited about this opportunity and look forward to when we will be able to safely empower these young women. We chose to participate in this because these women are our future leaders and they should know they are capable of achieving greatness! For our Flowergrams sisterhood, we donated to a local organization. We change this every year and vote as a chapter where we would like to see these funds to. This is really special to us because we can see first hand how our donations can impact an organization so greatly.
This year we added a Diversity and Inclusion officer. They help promote different events going on on campus and make sure that Kappa remains a safe space for everyone. Our philanthropy chair also did an incredible job at incorporating multicultural fraternity and sorority philanthropies into our goals and objectives of the semester. We want to make sure we support our fellow UI students that are in chapters unaffiliated with Greek Life.
Unfortunately, we had a difficult time celebrating the Fraternity's Sesquicentennial due to the Coronavirus outbreak. However, we did have an EME trainer in Fall 2020 who spoke to us about the history and ritual of the Fraternity. We also got to experience the Minnie Stewart van. For Beta Kappa's 104th anniversary we were able to break out some of the archives and embrace the history of the women that walked as proud members before us.
==Highlights of 2021==
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